Rafael Leão starts new campaign with a goal amid positional change [video] | OneFootball

Milan 2-0 Bari

Portugal star Rafael Leão scored and was later substituted with a calf injury, as AC Milan opened the season with a 2-0 win over Bari in the Coppa Italia on Sunday evening.

Leão was deployed in a strike pairing with Christian Pulisic for the match at San Siro, with new Milan boss Massimiliano Allegri using a 3-5-2 system for his first official game on the bench. The former Sporting man’s header opened the scoring on 14 minutes, before Pulisic added the second a few minutes after the re-start.

Just moments after his goal, Leão was replaced in the 17th minute. After the match, Milan assistant Marco Landucci told the media: “I don’t know if Leão will play against Cremonese (the first match of Serie A) but he left the pitch because of this [calf] issue. We didn’t want to take any more risks. We’ll see the results of the medical tests in the next few days.”

It was the first time Leão scored on the first official match of the season since joining Milan from Lille seven years ago. During pre-season, Allegri told reporters: “I’m sure Leão will have a great season, I believe in him. He’s reaching his peak years as players usually hit maturity between 26 and 30. I think he’s becoming more responsible.”

Milan endured a poor season last year, finishing 8th and firing two Portuguese managers in the space of half a year: Paulo Fonseca and Sérgio Conceição.